


total eclipse of the heart

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: (at least he thinks he's going blind), (it's offscreen), Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Blind Louis, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Nouis centric, Road Trips, Solar Eclipse 2017, space nerd niall, this is an entire day late im sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-18 19:40:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11881431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: just a drabble about niall and louis watching the eclipse together.





	total eclipse of the heart

Niall and Louis didn't exactly go on dates that often. Especially when they had three other boyfriends as well, and going out somewhere was always a hassle, because they couldn't play up the pda with each other or else they'd get weird stares. Also, trying to pick a place to go out is tiresome when there's 5 people with wildly different ideas of 'fun', and date nights would usually end with Harry pouting because he didn't get his way, Liam mocking him for being a brat, and Zayn apathetically rolling his eyes at the both of them, while Niall and Louis make out in the back seat.

That's why it came to a surprise to Niall when Louis woke him up in the middle of a cool August night, whispering about how he wants to go on a trip to a remote spot in the middle of Oregon to go look at the solar eclipse that was happening the next day.

Niall was shocked, as he didn't even know that Louis cared about the solar eclipse, as he vaguely remembered rattling on and on about it to the boys, only to receive mostly blank stares and non interest.

"I know how badly you wanted to see the eclipse," Louis whispered to Niall, who was in bed wiping his eyes, trying to contain his excitement, "So I wanted to drive up to Oregon. just the two of us, we don't have to tell the others."

Niall giggled with excitement, "You do know they'll be quite pissed once they realize we left, yeah?" he asked. Those were still his partners after all, and Niall didn't want them to be upset.

"Yeah, I know, and I don't really give a shit. I want to make you happy," Louis replied, "Now hurry up and get dressed. I already packed for the two of us."

Niall was still a bit groggy and sleepy - of course he would be, after being woken up at the arse-crack of dawn, but the excitement he felt over seeing the eclipse, an event he's waited for for _years_ , overpowered his tiredness and he had gotten ready to go in about 15 seconds flat. He was careful to be quiet and not wake the others along the way- which was extremely difficult considering they all share a bedroom, but he managed to make it out without a hitch.

"Okay, if we get on the road now, we'll have to drive for about twelve hours, but we'll still be there in enough time to check into a for the night and watch the eclipse in the morning,"  
Louis said as he and Niall got into the car.

"As long as you don't get us lost, we're fine," Niall replied, pulling his seatbelt over himself.

"That's what a GPS is for, Neil." Louis said with an air of snark.

Niall pouted, "I know babe, I just don't want to end up stuck on some back road on the outskirts of Sacremento with only the mountain lions keeping us company."

Louis kissed Niall on the cheek and just laughed. "Oh Niall, always quite the agony aunt, arent you?"

"Oh shut up."

Soon, the journey began, but the couple's banter did not end whatsoever.

-

After twelve or so long hours (that felt a lot shorter, due to the abundance of on road snacks and car chargers for their phones to play all of the mood appropriate music they could), Niall and Louis were finally at their destination. There was already a hotel booked in advance for them, as Louis has been planning this little surprise trip for weeks, so there was nothing but relaxation in a cool hotel room, as Niall just about bursted with excitement for the next day.

"Did you know that this is the first solar eclipse that'll be completely visible in 99 years?" Niall chattered on with a huge grin, "I can't wait to see it Lou, thank you for this."

"You're welcome baby."

"And you know what? I'm a bit wound up that I won't be able to see Hailey's comet until I'm about 70. I probably won't even be alive by then. Why does every spectacular event that has to do with space have to be so far apart?" Niall continued to ramble.

"It's okay Nialler. Whenever Henry's comet or whatever comes back, I'll come pick you up from whatever retirement home you're in and we can watch it together, although our Alzheimer's might make us forget it," Louis joked, throwing an arm around Niall.

All Niall could do was blush. He had one of the sweetest boyfriends in the world.

"C'mon Lou, let's get some shut eye. We need to be up early enough to actually see the eclipse, yeah?"

-

The next morning, Niall woke up in the hotel bed, and Louis was nowhere to be found. Niall had no idea what time it was, and he was too tired to even reach over to check his phone, which was probably laden with text messages and worried calls from the other three - Niall would deal with them later.

"Louis?" he called out, confusedly, frantically scanning the room with his eyes.

Just then, Louis walked over from around the corner, fully dressed and donning solar glasses.

"Oh, I'm sorry Niall. I forgot to wake you," Louis said apologetically, with a sullen look.

Niall began to panic, " _What?_ " he missed it? He couldn't have missed it. Niall's heart began to thud in his chest and he couldn't even speak.

"Yeah Ni, you missed it. it was fucking amazing by the way. Guess you have to wait another 99 years," Louis pouted.

Niall felt tears beginning to come on, "How could you?" he asked in a broken voice. 

Louis began to feel bad, "Niall, I was just joking babe," he said softly, thumbing away the tears from Niall's face. "It was just a joke, I'm sorry."

Niall breathed a sigh of relief, "You dick," he quickly jabbed Louis in the arm, the former yelping out an "ouch!"

"To be fair, I wouldn't have done it if i knew it would make you cry."

"Yeah, well when you're as passionate about space as I am, being told that you missed out on a rare phenomenon will do that to you," Niall shot back, clearly over it but still wanting to milk it.

"Just hurry and get dressed before we miss it for real," Louis replied.

And after breakfast and a nice warm shower for Niall, they both headed out to a nice open field for the best possible viewing.

"Too bad we don't have a telescope," Niall complained, as he laid out a blanket for them to sit on.

"You have a telescope. It was just too heavy for me to pick up and carry."

"Of course, you're too weak to handle anything."

"I'm not too weak to pick you up and slam you against the shower wall every morning am I?" Louis asked with a cheeky grin.

Niall couldn't help but blush, but this time it was a blush of embarassment, "Oh shut up."

"I'm just saying. You only weigh about a couple of stone soaking wet, but I can still lift you any time babe," Louis winked, causing Niall to blush deeper.

"Shut up, it's starting," Niall said, as he put his solar glasses on, and began to look up as the moon slowly began to cover the sun, turning the bright afternoon dark and dim as the light of the sun peaked out behind the moon.

The two of them stared up at the magnificent sight, as the golden light shimmered through as the moon began to block it.

"You know, I bet this would look a lot better without these ugly ass glasses on," Louis mumbled.

"Don't be an idiot Louis, you're not supposed to stare at the sun. It can cause irreversible damage to your eyes and even blind-"

"Oh sod off. I bet I'm not the only one looking up without glasses today huh? I doubt we'll _all_ go blind" Louis said as he discarded his solar glasses and stared directly up at the eclipse.

"What are you on about? Put your glasses back on before I have to listen to you bitch and moan about you being blind"

Louis just laughed, disregarding Niall's warning.

"Laugh all you want babe, but I don't want your eyes to get hurt," Niall continued on.

"I'm looking directly at the eclipse right now and I'm not blind yet. Sounds like bullshit if you ask me," Louis said smugly.

"You're not going to go blind immediately-"

"Are you sure you don't wanna take your glasses off too? It looks a lot better without them, Nialler."

"No thanks, I value my eyesight," Niall replied.

-  
In as short as a few hours time, Louis came to regret his decision to stare at the sun unprotected.

He didn't go blind (yet), but he sure felt like he was, because he couldn't keep his eyes open without continually blinking, he had a killer headache, his eyes felt strained, and his vision went blurry while he was trying to do things such as read things on his phone screen.

He wasn't going to admit any of that to Niall though. That would only give him the last laugh, and an excuse to say "I told you so." But Louis felt like he was going insane, and he was annoyed at best, and frightened at worse. He had to talk to someone. Just not Niall.

Louis walked onto the balcony of their hotel suite and began to call Zayn. If anyone was going to listen to him, it'd be Zayn.

"Hello?" Louis said after the dial tone.

"Hello? What do you mean 'hello'? You and Niall have been missing for a full day and you haven't told anyone-"

"Okay shut up. I didn't call for a mum lecture. Niall and I took a road trip up to Oregon to watch the solar eclipse he's been talking about, and long story short, I'm pretty sure I'm going blind now."

"You looked up at the sun didn't you."

"...Yeah"

"You're a proper fucking idiot," Zayn said, more with disappointment than with anger.

"I know. But the bottom line is I stared because I didn't immediately go blind and I was trying to prove a point to Niall and now my head hurts and my vision is blurry and I can't see straight and I wanna cry," Louis rambled in desperation, "What should I do?"

"I'm not an eye doctor. I don't know what you should do. Honestly, I think you're kind of fucked."

Louis wanted to chuck his phone over the balcony in frustration. Zayn was no help at all.

"Well, thanks." Louis grumbled, and he ended the phone call. He didn't mean to be so rude, but his minor eyesight mishaps, coupled with the heightened paranoia, really frutstrated him to the point of almost tears.

This continued on for the rest of the day. Right when his vision started to clear up and he got relieved that things were normal again, it would hit him again, and he was extremely worried; How would he even be able to drive them back home tomorrow if he's blind? How will he be able to do anything if he goes blind, matter of fact?

Niall noticed that Louis seemed a bit distraught, "What's wrong?" he asked.

"You were right Niall. You were right I shouldn't have looked at the goddamn sun and now I'm going blind because I'm an idiot and I'll probably wake up tomorrow with pitch black vision and I'll never be able to see you again and I'm such an idiot," he confessed. No point in holding it in to protect his pride. He was scared.

Niall could have rubbed it in Louis' face that he was right, but looking at his boyfriend's frightened face, he decided to comfort him.

"You aren't going to go blind. I'm no eye doctor but I know that you'll be okay," Niall ran his fingers through Louis' fringe as an attempt to soothe him.

"No but like my vision is blurry at some times and then it's okay and my eyes hurt and my head hurts and I just know I'm going to wake up blind tomorrow," a tear fell from his eyes.

"That's not going to happen babe. You'll go partially blind at worst which is what I was trying to tell ya', but I know you'll be okay. The worst case scenario is you'll have to start wearing glasses again."

"I just don't want to lose my eyesight because then I'll never be able to look at you again. I love you," Louis said, running his finger over Niall's cheek.

"You're a big sap," Niall said, "But I love you too. My beautiful blind boyfriend," he teased.

And that earned Niall a whack on the arm.

He could say this though,Even in his frightened state about his (percieved) impending blindness, Louis was glad he could have spent this once in a lifetime event with Niall, even if he would probably come out of it with glasses and a few trips to the optometrist, there's no one he'd rather go blind with than Niall.

And that was quite the romantic sentiment in it's own way.


End file.
